Former Apple Store Specialist here... Only left a week ago for a new job. There's no vanilla scent but sometimes I wished there was especially when the Genius bar gets crowded in the summer in a smaller store. But yea, the "visuals" are a big deal to the store. In the years I've been there, we've changed the angle of the screens from 90 degrees to 70 degrees and use the "Simply Angle" app on the phone to make sure it's right. If you ever look at either the laptop case or iphone case wall, you'll notice that they're placed strategically. For instance, iPod touch animal cases and the superhero cases are right at a little kid's eye level when they walk up to the wall.

Thanks, specialists know a lot more about these tricks then I do. All I did was get yelled at all day and fix broken stuff. Oh and use the correct wording when speaking to customers while avoiding negative things like "unable to, no, etc"

I've worked at two different stores in different parts of the country and I've done it at both of them. One of the stores was more relaxed and in a mall so it wasn't a huge deal, but I currently work at a stand-alone made of mostly glass so they are really crazy about it. It definitely looks awesome at night and just in general when people pass by the store.
edit: no longer current... very recently ( a week ago)